Car rental company file insurance claim after 3 months of renting.

Hi everyone, this incident happened to my friend, but I think it would help me and other people who will (hopefully not) face similar event in the future. This is what my friend told me and if you want more clarification, I would be gladly to ask him for more details.

He visited his gf in another state and rented a car there around May 2018. This month, he just received a call from his insurance saying he had a claim and to call them back. He did and learned that the rental company file a claim about his rental. Here is what he told me:

- He did not hit anything or aware that any thing happened during the whole trip.

-He checked out and they didn't give him any paperwork, any inspection notice, just said you're good to go.

-After about 15 mins, when he's at the airport, they called and said they notice some scratch and he said why they didn't do inspection while he returned it? They said oh just let you know, nothing you need to do.

-He called the insurance and the insurance said the rental company said there was huge bump and dent on the front indicating that it was a collision (which my friend said he didn't hit anything to cause such damage) and the claim date is 3 months after the renting took place. The insurance company said we wont' do investigation, just pay $500 and we pay $50.

-Here is what interesting, he told me he just switched away from this insurance company before the claim took place and he suspects that they tried to take more money from him last time.

So my question is: Is there anything he could do to make them investigate the case? The car rental said they will ask some collecting money agency (sorry, I'm not quite familiar with the term) and he has no option, but to pay.

I understand that it's usually wise to take picture before and after renting a car, but I didn't expect the renter to be so powerless. They didn't inspect the car, or tell my friend to come back and give him time stamps or photo before and after or anything. It makes me feel they can just file a claim and you can't do anything because the insurance company won't investigate. Thanks everyone for any input, I told him to try the consumer protection .gov website, but if you know any other things he should do, please let me know.

Update: some other info I forgot to mention. Initially when he called the insurance company, they said send them the contract (which he did), and they will contact the rental company to ask why they file a claim 3 months after the renting took place, and if they have any photo or evidence. However, after 1 week, they just said no investigation and you have to pay.

Thanks for your reply. The reason he's trying to fight back is because the claim is only ~ $550. He has to pay $500 deductible and the insurance only pay $50. He asked if the claim is $5k, would they pay $4.5k without doing investigation? And they replied yes

This is not uncommon if you google it. Car rental keeps sending mass claim to gain profit. They will claim the whole front needs to be replaced because of the scratch. They dont ask much money because insurance company will do investigation. They usually do it below $1k. I think best way is to email them and cc the insurance commisioner of the state and ask them to provide evidence or you will contact higher authority.

For a more relaxed and humorous meta discussion of the 'legal' advice offered elsewhere on Reddit and the posts here please visit Bestoflegaladvice.

For discussion of hypothetical legal questions, or other off topic law related questions please visit Legaladviceofftopic.

While we do not accept donations or payment of any kind, we strongly suggest that you support Legal Aid and other public service legal organizations either by donating directly to the Legal Services Corporation or finding your state or local Legal Aid office and donating to them.